CSU certificate: Atiku never had a case ‘in the first place’ – Robert Clarke

Reacting to the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and elder statesman, Chief Robert Clarke, has claimed that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) never had a case in the certificate issue involving President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that the Supreme Court on Thursday, dismissed Atiku’s application to be allowed to tender a copy of President Tinubu’s certificate, which he obtained from the CSU. The court held that the constitutionally allowed period for such evidence to be admitted had elapsed.

According to the apex court, considering that the PEPC, which sat as the court of first instance in the presidential dispute, had since delivered its verdict, no provision of the law would allow the admittance of any other evidence at the appeal stage.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV on Friday, Clarke stated that Atiku never had a case, adding that 90 percent of his woes were caused by his lawyers.

His words: “90 percent of Atiku’s woes were caused by his lawyers. What they should have done 15, 20 years ago, and even 30 days ago, they did not do; instead, because they have easy money to travel to America to collect this and that, they are now bamboozling everybody in Nigeria to show Atiku has a case. Atiku has never had a case in this matter.

“He has been fighting Tinubu for the past 20 years; is it today that he is looking for evidence to fight him? So, I’m happy that we’ve got to talk to the lawyers so we can make sure our supporters are not carried away by propaganda.

“It beats my mind how any lawyer in Nigeria today would ask Tinubu to show his certificate at the time they were asking him to do so. A matter that has been dealt with at different forums, you are now making a hype of it, spending money, and sending witnesses to America; it’s because the Nigerian system allows you to throw money away.

I don’t see how a lawyer can tell Atiku that a matter he did not raise in the Court of Appeal which is the court of first instance, and he’s now going to the Supreme Court, which is an appellate court, and will come to tell you, “Atiku, you have a case; my son discovered that Tinubu did not attend university, and you accepted.”

He also stated that the problem in Nigeria starts with political parties, as they have been made to take over political lives.

He said, “To be a party member in Nigeria, you need to spend a lot of money. To be able to contest on behalf of a party in Nigeria, either as a governorship or presidential candidate, you must be ready to spend trillions of naira.

“The problem in Nigeria starts with the political parties; we’ve allowed the political parties to take over every area of our political lives. This is an area we have to look into and stop,” Clarke added.